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Subscribe to the NetworkSelfish Serving?
We have a problem in youth ministry: kids are selfish. You know what? Adults are too. I know it sounds like an oxymoron – selfish serving. I’m guilty of doing just that sometimes – selfishly serving to get what I want. When selfishness gets combined with service it can be pretty ugly and un-productive. People know when we’re trying to get something from them through our acts of service. It’s called manipulation or worse and it seems contrived to those who are “beneficiaries” of such service. Kids in my youth groups knew when I was trying to move them to a different place through disingenuous service. They got what I was trying to do to and for them and they resisted my efforts. However, I noticed that when I genuinely served them out of response to Jesus – not for what I could get out of them – my service had an impact. If we want our youth ministries to possess genuine service in the core of the group, the leaders (you, me, other adults who have influence) must check their serve and open our hearts to genuine open handed Jesus connected service . That kind of service, the kind we want to see our kids possess in their faith and character, is often caught from a leader who shows the way. So how’s your serve?
